Apparatus for saturating roofing felt



May 18, 1943 C. E. WILKINSON APPARATUS FOR SATURATING ROOFING FELT FiledJuly 24, 1941 CLARENCE E. WlLKlNSON X/ZM'J HIS A IN VENTOR BY 4 621? NEY s Patented May 18, 1943 2,319,382 srmns'rvs roa ss'ruaa'rmo ROOFINGmun Clarence Elbert Wilkinson, Port Neches, Tex.,'as-

signor, by mesne assignments, to The Texas Company, New York, N. Y., acorporation of Delaware Applicationluly 24, 1941, Serial No. 403,842

Claims. (CI. 91-18) Thi invention relates to the manufacture of preparedroofing material such as that made by the impregnation or saturation offelt or paper (hereinafter referred to as felt only) with asphalt orother bituminous compounds of a similar nature.

It is well known to be important in connection withthe manufacture ofprepared roofing that the largest possible number of voids in the feltbe filled with the saturating compound. The presence of air and moisturein the felt interferes to a considerable extent with thempregnation orsaturation thereof with the saturating compound, and if not eliminated,results in excessive foaming when the felt is immersed in the saturantin a saturating tank. It is therefore important that the contained airand moisture be expelled as completely as possible either before orduring the impregnating or saturating process.

It has heretofore been discovered by others that there is an advantagein applying the hot liquid saturating material to one side only of thesheet of roofing felt, whereby any air or moisture contained within thevoids in the felt is expelled through the opposite surface of the sheet.For example, the Miller Patent No. 1,636,750, patented July 26, 1927,discloses a process wherein the felt passes around a heated drum ordrums and as the felt approaches each of the drums, saturating materialsuch as liquid asphalt is applied to one face of the sheet. The spoutsused for applying the saturating material are located adjacent to thedrums so that the drums help to spread or distribute the saturatingmaterial laterally over the sheet as the spouts pour or flood it on thesheet. After the asphalt has been applied to one face of the feltadjacent to the drum, the felt passes under the drum, thereby effectinga spreading or distributing action upon the asphalt. The felt thentravels a sufficient distance through the air to allow the asphalt orother saturant to thoroughly penetrate the sheet and to drive out themoisture and air from the other face of the sheet. The felt may besubjected to similar treatment by passing it around any desired numberof heated drums and applying the hot asphalt or other saturant betweenthe face of the felt and the surface of the drum.

1 have found that improved saturation of roofing felt can be obtained byapplying the hot asphalt or other saturant, not between the face of thefelt and the surface of the drum as disclosed in the Miller patent. butdirectly at the top of each of the heated drums so that the saturantruns off of the drums in both directions to come in contact with onesurface of the sheet of roofing felt, part of the saturant coming incontact with the sheet just prior to its passing under the drum, and theremainder being applied to the same face of the sheet as its passesfrorn beneath the.drum.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that one of the objects of thepresent invention is to provide an improved apparatus for applying a hotliquid saturant such as asphalt to one surface only of a felt sheetbeing used in the manufacture of roofing shingles in order to saturatethe sheet and force through the opposite face of the sheet any air ormoisture contained in the voids thereof.

The drawing diagrammatically illustrates an apparatus embodying thepresent invention.

According to the present invention, a roll of roofing felt ill to besaturated is arranged atone end of the saturating machine. 7 As the feltis drawn from the roll ill it passes over a guide roll I! and is thenthreaded between a pair of upper and lower squeeze rolls l4, l4, one ofwhich may be driven from a suitable source (not shown). After emergingfrom between the squeeze rolls It, It, the sheet passes upwardly over alooper roll I6 which may or may not be heated, and then downwardly untilit is threaded between a second pair of squeeze rolls l8, l8, similar torolls I4, It. Any desired number of pairs of squeeze rolls may beemployed and any or all of them may be heated if desired.

A spout 20, or preferably a plurality of spouts, is positioned directlyabove the upper roll of each pair of squeeze rolls, and through thisspout 20 hot asphalt or other liquid saturant is applied to the topsurface of the upper roll so that it runs downwardly in both directions,some to come in contact with one surface of the felt before it passesbetween the squeeze rolls, and the rest, which passes down the oppositeside of the roll, coming in contact with the same face of the sheetafter it emerges from between the squeeze rolls. The sheet receives aslight squeezing action in conjunction with the application, of the hotsaturant, and this squeezing action tends to accelerate the penetrationof the asphaltinto the sheet. The action of the rolls tends not only toassist in spreading the saturant across the entire face of the sheet,but also to accelerate the penetration of the voids in the sheet and tomore rapidly and completely expel air and moisture from the oppositeface. The second application of the hot saturant to the same face of thesheet as it emerges from between the squeeze rolls enables the sheet toabsorb still more of the saturant as it travels upwardly to and over thelooper roll l6, and in this manner more uniform and thorough saturationof the entire sheet is obtained than in any method heretofore used.

A indicated above, upon emerging from be tween each of the pairs ofsqueeze rolls and having the hot saturant applied to one surfacethereof, the sheet of felt passes upwardly and over one of the looperrolls I6, l6 which allows time for a certain amount of cooling andpermits the saturant to penetrate well within the voids of the sheet.Finally, after emerging from between the last pair of squeeze rolls andpassing about a looper as heretofore described, the sheet is passedthrough a saturating tank 22 where both faces of the sheet are furthercoated with hot asphalt or other saturant, and upon emerging from thesaturating tank, the sheet is passed over one or more,loopers 24 untilit is in such condition that it can be wound up into a roll, as shown at26. I

As hereinbefore indicated, the several squeeze rolls as well as thelooper rolls may be heated as desired. The distance between the squeezerolls and the looper rolls may be adjusted to allow for sufficientcooling of the asphalt between each application of hot saturant to thesheet. In this connection it might be said that the temperature of thesaturant should preferably be approximately 425 F. or at least withinthe range of 400-450" F. for most efiicient operation.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the invention as hereindescribed may be made without departing from the spirit and scopethereof, and therefore only such limitations should be imposed as areindicated in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for saturating a felt sheet comprising cooperating upperand lower squeeze rolls between which the felt sheet is passed, meansfor rotating said rolls, a spout disposed directly above the center ofthe upper roll and directed to feed hot saturant to the top of said rollso that the saturant will flow down both sides thereof to contact oneface of the sheet both as it enters between and emerges from said rolls,a looper roll disposed above the squeeze roll and over which the sheetis passed to permit absorption of the saturant by the felt, and asaturating tank through which the sheet passes and in which both sidesof the sheet are coated.

2. Apparatus for saturating a felt sheet comprising cooperating upperand lower squeeze rolls between which the felt sheet i passed, means forrotating said rolls, a spout disposed above the upper roll and directedto feed hot saturant to the top of said roll so that the saturant willflow down both sides thereof to contact one face of the sheet both as itenters between and emerges from said rolls, and means for suspending themoving sheet in the air for a distance suflicient to permit absorptionof the saturant from one face and the expulsion of air and moisture fromthe opposite face thereof.

3. Apparatus for saturating a felt sheet comprising cooperating upperand lower squeeze rolls between which the felt sheet is passed, meansfor rotating said rolls, a spout disposed above the upper roll anddirected to feed hot saturant to the top of said roll so that thesaturant will flow down both sides thereof to contact one face of thesheet both as it enters between and emerges from said rolls, means forsuspending the moving sheet in the air for a distance sumcient to permitabsorption of the saturant from one face and the expulsion of air andmoisture from the opposite face thereof, and a saturating tank throughwhich the sheet is passed and in which both sides of the sheet arecoated.

4. Apparatus for saturating a felt sheet comprising cooperating upperand lower squeeze rolls between which the felt sheet is passed, meansfor rotating said rolls, a spout disposed above the upper roll anddirected to feed hot saturant to the top of said roll so that thesaturant will flow down both sides thereof to contact one face of thesheet both as it enters between and emerges from said rolls, a looperroll disposed above the squeeze rolls and over which the sheet is passedto permit absorption of the saturant by the felt, and means for applyingadditional saturant to both faces of the sheet.

5. Apparatus for saturating a felt sheet comprising cooperating upperand lower squeeze rolls between which the felt sheet is passed, meansfor rotating said rolls, a spout disposed above the upper roll anddirected to feed hot saturant to the top of said roll so that thesaturant will flow down both sides thereof to contact one face of thesheet both as it enters between and emerges from said rolls, means forsuspending the moving sheet in the air for a distance sufficient topermit absorption of the saturant from one face and the expulsion of airand moisture from the opposite face thereof, and means for applyingadditional saturant to both faces of the sheet.

CLARENCE ELBERT WILKINSON.

